Unmaking Things
From the Editors
Upcoming Events
There are some very exciting events through the V&A, RCA as well as our Alumni that we wish to share:
Ai Weiwei Study Day, V&A
Friday 9 March, 10:00 – 16:30
FREE, booking essential (lunch included)
Join us for a special study day, take part in a practical workshop and enjoy a series of talks on the practice of Ai Weiwei.
Reserve your place by emailing Leanne Manfredi at l.manfredi@vam.ac.uk
Places are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis.
Easter Gilding Course, Florence
2 April – 14th April 2012
for more information: globalgilding.com
2011 RCA / V&A History of Design graduate, Sophie Plender, will lead art and design history tours of Florence and nearby Tuscan towns.
V&A/RCA History of Design Open Research Seminars, Spring Term 2012
Humanities Seminar Room
Royal College of Art
5.00-6.30 pm Thursdays
Thursday 9 February
Emulation: anxieties of influence and the progress of plagiarism.
Dr Katie Scott, Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Thursday 16 February
To the Ends of the Earth: Fashion and Ethnicity in Vogue fashion shoots
Dr. Sarah Cheang, Royal College of Art
Thursday 23 February
The rediscovery of Korean tradition in graphic design, fashion and visual culture from
1960s and to 1980s
Dr. Yunah Lee, University of Brighton
Thursday 1 March:
Identity, Food and Consumerism: Charting the Movement of Ramen as
a Chinese Dish to a Japanese National Icon
Dr. Barak Kushner, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Cambridge]
Thursday 8 March:
Tailoring for Royal Needs: The Manufacture of Clothing at the Royal Court in early
17th Century Sweden
Dr. Cecilia Aneer, Textile Studies, Department of Art History, Uppsala Universitet
Thursday 15 March:
Mind Mud: The Conceptual Ceramics of Ai Weiwei
Garth Clark, Author and Critic
Thursday 22 March:
Join the Tea Set: Selling an Old Commodity in a New Britain
Dr. Erika Rappaport, University of California, Santa Barbara
The History of Design Research seminars are open to all with a research interest in the field. Any further enquiries about the programme, please contact hod@rca.ac.uk
Until 2012…
// Today marks UNMAKING THINGS final post for our inaugural year, 2011! The editorial team is going on hiatus in anticipation of the New Year, and the new additions and articles planned for the site. We hope you will join us again in 2012 for more history of design studio time…
Until then,
Best Wishes from the UNMAKING THINGS editors
Call For Entry
Closing date : 20 January 2012
// We welcome contributions from all.
Please see our submission guidelines for details.
Helen Kearney & Marilyn Zapf
Editors-in-Chief
HOD MA, 2
From the Editors-in-Chief
UNMAKING THINGS: When Historians Become Designers
// Considering we spend our days at the RCA/V&A studying the design process, switching from historian to designer inevitably provoked some reflective moments. We might as well have walked out of a seminar on the contextual influences on design, tripped, and fallen immediately – and startlingly – into the role of website developer and editor. Suddenly we were choosing fonts, forms, and functions for the site you see now. But what provoked our self-imposed shift from subject to object of our own area of study?
We might pinpoint the moment we realized our passion for the history of design to last spring, when on a field trip we stood with unrelenting enthusiasm for hours in the pouring rain in a dreary Prague suburb contemplating the construction of modernist prototype houses. Unmaking Things comes from the same spirit; it was born out of a convergence of our love of the history of design and the inspiration of our creative-soaked surroundings at the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum.
Unlike the other designers and artists at the RCA, History of Design students do not have their own studio—perhaps this is simply due to a lack of space, possibly it’s the budget cuts to arts and education, or maybe a reflection of the social expectations of an historian’s role; a commentary on what it is an historian is supposed to produce? Whatever the reason, we have decided having an experimental space is critical to the development of our field and practice. Thus, we created our own digital studio with the hope it will become a constant open workshop where we can collaboratively make and unmake objects, history, design, and theory.
However, our enthusiasm and motivation would be meaningless without the tireless support of our intelligent, charming and beautiful team of editors, as well as our classmates and tutors. We owe them a huge amount of thanks. Additionally, we are grateful for the overwhelmingly useful feedback and assistance from members of both our institutions, especially Neal MacInnes, Octavia Reeve, Ana Pereira, Katrina Royall, Neil Parkinson, Sophie Dutton, Eleanor Appleby, Bruno Latour, Jane Jacobs, Jane Rendell, Jane Pavitt, Sarah Teasley, Angela McShane, and last but not least, to Richard Checketts for agreeing we could appropriate his course title ‘Unmaking Things’ for our own purposes. Their interest in the project and constant encouragement helped us through what has at times been an experience in retaining a thin grasp of sanity, and it is really because of them that Unmaking Things is more than just a good idea we once had.
Helen Kearney & Marilyn Zapf
Editors-in-Chief
HOD MA, 2
From the RCA/V&A HOD Heads of Course
Why Unmaking Things? Extracted from the mass of course documents supplied to students on the V&A/RCA History of Design MA programme, this particular phrase struck a chord with the collective of students behind the launch of this new forum. With its investigative tone, Unmaking Things proposed a democracy of subject matter (note ‘things’ not ‘design’) and a desire to peel back layers of history and meaning to reveal the processes and operations – social, cultural and technological – underpinning material culture.
The V&A/RCA MA Programme in the History of Design is the starting place, not the finishing line, for the contributors to these pages. Their work represents the full range of specialist interests offered by the MA and research programme (three pathways in Renaissance, Asian and Modern design history and material culture). They demonstrate the shared professional interests of the programme – writing, history, theory, curating, and the intersection with design practice. To see how their work is an extension of the programme, you can visit the RCA/V&A History of Design webpages using generic viagra or buy authentic viagra. Or you can come and visit us, at the College, at the Museum, or at one of our frequent public events where students and staff present their work, details of which will be posted here. Or drop us a line, at generic viagra coupon, for further information on applying to the programme.
Unmaking Things is the newest and most creative digital forum for the discussion of design, design history and material culture. It will inform, delight and provoke those of us with an investment in the health of these disciplines. And it will connect with anyone who has an interest in the making, and unmaking, of the material world. We wish it well.
Jane Pavitt and Glenn Adamson
Heads of Course
V&A/RCA History of Design
